


Verminion Challenge

by cartoonmoomba



Series: I walked around the world until I found my gravestone [11]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Drabble, F/M, also paissa, very slight Thancred/WoL
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 05:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11052204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cartoonmoomba/pseuds/cartoonmoomba
Summary: Lieal loses a ring, her paissa loses its pride, and somehow it all turns out okay. [slight Thancred/my WoL]





	Verminion Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Final Fantasy XIV does not belong to me.

The nutkin's eyes peer out at her over the edge of the table. They blink once, twice; across the room, Lieal narrows her gaze.

"Don't you dare," she threatens. The nutkin cocks its head at her voice. Slowly, the Warrior begins to edge towards the ring sitting at the centre of the table. It shines under the lamplight, freshly polished. The nutkin's eyes sparkle.

"I'm not playing games here," the young woman continues. Perched on her shoulders, thin arms holding on for purchase, her paissa brat chatters into one ear. 

It happens in the blink of an eye: the twitch of the nutkin's tail, her paissa's tremble, and the clatter of the ring on wood as the nutkin leaps forward to grab it between its small teeth and disappear into the shadows.

The paissa on her shoulders is off in a flash with the sound of angry squeaking. Lieal lets out a similar noise and makes after the two, dodging between tables and chairs as she chases the both of them. 

She breezes past Horary Boulder with a rushed apology into the residential halls of the Rising Stones and then down to the Scions' area. The nutkin encounters a brief obstacle in the form of Thancred's closed door, and Lieal takes the opportunity to grab her paissa and leap inside after the nutkin as it squeezes past.

She freezes and claps a hand over her squeaking pet. The nutkin clambers up on Thancred's sleeping chest and drops her ring straight over his heart. 

"Give that back here, you little monster," Lieal hisses as quiet as she can. The nutkin turns to stare at her and chatters a reply. Beneath it, Thancred shifts in his sleep.

The Warrior bites at her lower lip and hugs her struggling paissa closer to her. She had meant to depart the Stones shortly but leaving without her ring - it was out of the question. Did she dare to try and sneak up on Thancred without waking him...? 

She takes a small step forward, and then another when his eyes fail to open. The nutkin continues to watch her from its spot with beady eyes. Lieal glares at it and, silently, curses its attraction to shiny things to all of the Twelve. 

Her paissa brat squirms out beneath her hand and lets out an angry squeal. Lieal falters mid-step, horror struck, and watches as Thancred's eyes flutter open.

The man blinks at her. "Well," he says, still half-asleep. "This is a surprise." His nutkin makes a pleased noise beneath his chin and Thancred casts his eyes upon it. His brows arch in surprise at the ring sitting heavily on his chest. "A clandestine meeting this late at night? And a ring? Why, my friend, what a bold proposal this is."

Lieal's cheeks flush red at his words. "Thancred, please." She says as the man shifts to sit up and cradles both the nutkin and ring in his hands. His hair flops messily over both eyes, his customary blindfold sitting on the nightstand beside him. "If I were to propose to you, it would most certainly not be through your pet stealing one of my aether rings." 

Thancred's grin at her is all teeth. "So you have thought about it?" 

"Thancred," the woman insists with burning ears. "I swear to all the Gods, I will set down my angry paissa to battle it out with your nutkin." 

His laughter is sleep heavy and acutely reminds Lieal of how inappropriately placed she currently is, late into the night and in the bedchamber of the man who has more than once asked for her private company. "Very well then," Thancred replies, his one eye shining brightly at her from beneath his hair. "The winner, then, shall owe the other a date."

Her paissa squeaks, as if in agreement to the challenge, and Lieal furrows her brow. "Then no matter who wins, we would end up on this date." 

Thancred runs a finger over her ring and smirks. "That is the point, my dear." 

Lieal pulls a face at him in response. "Thancred, _really_." 

Her friend shifts closer to her on his bed. "I dare you." His smirk teems with a certain darkness which makes her stomach churn, and not uncomfortably. "Are you truly one to back down from a challenge?"

Over the head of her minion spewing what she can only assume to be obscenities at the nutkin, perched innocently in the hands of the man, Lieal narrows her eyes. "Fine," she declares. "Pet, you heard the man. Win or lose does not matter, but we do not back down from a challenge."

She drops the paissa to the ground and it wastes no time in making for the nutkin. With a squeal, the two are off under the bed and then out the door.

The Scions watch the two go. "They will make their way back eventually," Thancred offers. Lieal turns to face him once more and starts - he stands above her now, grinning face looking down at hers as he spins her ring around his fingers. 

"Now then," he leans closer and swipes a strand of her hair behind one ear. "What do you say to taking this time to decide on our outing?"

.

.

The nutkin emerges victorious only due to its size and familiarity with the Rising Stones. Lieal sits at the bar the next morning, snuggling her sulking paissa brat close over breakfast. 

"Thancred was by recently, looking awfully cheery," F'lhammin comments as she deposits the Warrior's meal before her. "He said he had a date to look forward to with, and I quite, 'our typically elusive Warrior of Light'." The older Miqo'te peers at Lieal over her glasses with evident curiosity. 

Lieal raises the paissa in her hands higher. "We lost a fight," she says by way of explanation. Her pet makes an angry chattering comment and the girl soothes down the fur on its forehead. "It's okay," she consoles in a coo. "We'll get those two next time." 

"Already planning a second date?" F'lhammin's smile is teasing and all-knowing. 

Lieal laughs in response. "Second date?" Her cheeks turn red as she grins. "The man already has a proposal in mind." 

 


End file.
